Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Kamen Rider might be a show that has possibly hit an identity crisis. A franchise is usually called to reinvent itself. Take Super Sentai having reinvented itself until it could no longer sustain itself. In fact, the period of 2021-2026 was a five-series finale for the series . Kamen Rider was a series that reinvented itself more often than it did -- resulting in a series of good and bad results. I feel the series may have an identity crisis (and funny enough, I'm PROBABLY ENJOYING IT).  The Showa era reviewed  Kamen Rider was a show that had that shaky start (during the Showa Era) . One may notice that the Showa-era Kamen Rider entries were basically not a yearly thing. Just think how Kamen Rider Stronger and Kamen Rider Skyrider had a four-year gap. Kamen Rider Super-1 and Kamen Rider BLACK had a six-year gap. BLACK was supposed to be a reboot, but yeah, Toei got greedy and decided to create Kamen Rider BLACK RX. I believe that BLACK RX was supposed to end an era. BLACK RX ...

It's for my review of The Art of Sarah . Be careful, though, because this mini-series has a lot of complex twists and turns. It's practically a Walking Spoiler of a TV series. Shin Hye Sun is the lead actress who plays the role of a very complicated character. The series is a mystery thriller that makes you ask, "Who is Sarah Kim? What did she do?" The series opens with what could be the end of Sarah Kim. However, what if the truth isn't as simple as it looks? That's what this show is about, as Hye Sun presents her excellent acting skills in every flashback.  The whole series is full of suspense. The flashbacks can be rather complex. Was there really a Sarah Kim, or was she just another alias? Every flashback Hye Sun plays is played to a T. Every step of the way reveals a new mystery. The dead body found may not be hers. This is a case of mistaken identity, which creates a paper trail revealing the truth behind the Sarah Kim persona. How did the murder happen?...

It's time for another random review. This time, I finished the Xianxia series,  Blossoming Love . The Chinese title is 千朵桃花一世开 — (Qiān duǒ táohuā yīshì kāi) meaning  A Thousand Peach Blossoms Bloom in a Lifetime .  In this case, I was kind of stressed so I ended up watching a show for the eye candy. Yes, Sun Zhenni is really super pretty in this one. The last time I saw Zhenni was in the series was in Love and Redemption as a gumiho, and she's really pretty. I ended up watching a Xianxia TV series that had a complicated plot about lovers caught in several cycles of reincarnation over  10,000 YEARS. Yes, talk about how much more complicated an Xianxia is compared to a Wuxia in terms of time jumps !  The story of the two lovers is complicated by the passage of 10,000 years and their immortality. The main character is Xie Xuechan (acted by Vin Zhang), who used to be Emperor Zhao Ming. Xuechan is the leader of the Immortal Alliance. Mu Xianling (Zhenni) is the ...

Chen Dao Lee   For a Throwback Thursday Post, I want to review the late Barbie Xu's memorial. Barbie eventually filed for divorce and married DJ Koo, who was her former love flame, and sadly, she passed away too soon after enduring an abusive marriage with her ex-husband. The unveiling of Barbie's rather Manga-esque statue that resembled Makino Tsukushi from Hana Yori Dango felt appropriate. It was because Barbie's acting career was launched by Meteor Garden  -- she was TSUKUSHI MAKINO. IMHO, she was the best Tsukushi to be done in live action! Almost everyone in Meteor Garden resembled their Anime/Manga counterparts one way or another! It was a rainy day indeed (and honestly, Barbie's close friend Rainie Yang showed up, no pun intended) together with her two co-stars Jerry Yan and Vic Zhou. Who could remember the love triangle in Meteor Garden that was actually drawn into a love rollercoaster? The Daoming Si vs. Huatze Lei love triangle for Dong Shan Cai was one of tho...

  I just finished watching the Netflix series Can This Love be Translated?. This is where Sota Fukushi reveals his polyglot reality. Sota was able to speak in English and now he's shown his ability to speak Hangul. Yes, and I tend to get confused between Hangul and Nihongo! Sota plays a side character, but when he does show up -- he NAILS it. The show was released all at once, presumably to compensate for the delay in release after it finished filming. Basically, it feels weird that Sota (who plays the side character Hiro Kurosawa), with Kim Seon-Ho acting as the polyglot Joo Ho-Jin. Ho Jin is a character that could speak  Chinese, English, Italian, and Japanese as his second languages. Go Yoon-Jung acts as an actress playing as, Cha Mu-Hi (an actress), who has her imaginary ego as the ghost Do Ra-Mi. She gets into a not-so-dramatic love triangle. What interested me was the show moving between four different countries. Going from South Korea to Japan to Italy to Canada ca...

Is it me or do I just enjoy beating up Disney live-action remakes? If The Female General was actually one Hua Mulan inspired story, then so is Love in the Clouds . However, Love in the Clouds reminds me of how Disney's Mulan (2020) remake was basically a Mary Sue. However, Love in the Clouds is a slow build a classic switcheroo (where a mother swaps places with a child that's not hers) for her own convenience. Empress Ce (Zhang Ting) executes the perfect switcheroo. In fact, things aren't like what they are supposed to be.  The main heroine Ming Yi (Lu Yu Xiao) poses as the Prince Ming Xian. It's pretty much Hua Mulan except it's not in the army. The big issue is with the tournament of the six realms. Think Mortal Kombat without the violent "Fatalities!" Ji Bozai (Hou Ming Hao) has a dark secret past, where he is the Aladdin. Ji Bozai is the diamond in the rough as he grew up in the Jixing Abyss. Bozai later discovers some dark secrets and decides, "W...